1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a shellfish shucking machine and more specifically to a bivalve opening device for safely shucking or opening bivalve shellfish such as oysters, clams and the like. The shucking machine includes a base structure, an upright support structure including a handle structure and a vertically movable knife structure which includes a thin but wide blade having a rounded and sharpened lower edge to engage the bivalve and to be forced into the seam between the two halves of the bivalve shell and then rotated or twisted about its own longitudinal axis to open the shell in a manner similar to the shucking action that is used when a conventional hand-held oyster shucking knife is used to open a bivalve shellfish. The blade is provided with a transparent guard which enables observation of the blade and provides maximum at rest protection for the user with the blade being interchangeable for use with different types of bivalve shellfish.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Shellfish of the bivalve type have been opened manually by using a knife having a particular configuration that is manually inserted into the seam between the two halves of the bivalve and then twisted in a manner to pry open the bivalve, oyster, clam or the like so that the desired meat within the shell can be extracted. While there have been some efforts to provide shellfish opening devices, none of them utilize an arrangement in which the blade can be not only inserted into the seam but also twisted about its own axis to pry open the two halves of the bivalve. A separate information disclosure statement will be filed.